Paul Brand
Every professional displayed on Counselling Directory has been independently verified by our team to ensure they have suitable credentials to practise.
This professional is accepting new clients but may have a waitlist. Please enquire with them directly to discuss availability.
This professional is accepting new clients but may have a waitlist. Please enquire with them directly to discuss availability.
About me
Hello and welcome to my Counselling Directory page. I am an experienced and BACP Accredited psychodynamic counsellor working in person and online with adults aged 18+. If you are finding things hard at the moment and would like to find out more about how counselling with me might be able to help, then please do not hesitate to get in touch - I look forward to hearing from you.
Psychodynamic counselling does not look for a quick fix to complex problems, and I will not give you guidance or advice, or set homework tasks. Instead, I will work hard to help you feel safe and comfortable enough to be able to tell your story and to feel really heard and understood. Once this happens, we can begin to work together to make sense of your experiences, to understand the patterns and connections between past and present, and to help you change and grow in the future. Psychodynamic counselling can be a longer-term way of working, but there is a growing body of evidence that shows that the benefits are also longer-lasting.
In psychodynamic counselling, the sessions are usually left open for you to speak about whatever thoughts or feelings might be on your mind – I won’t set an agenda or tell you what you should be talking about, but will work with you to explore whatever might be present for you in the moment. I will also help you to reflect on the process of counselling and what it feels like to be with me in the session, as this can be a really important source of insight and understanding in itself.
Training, qualifications & experience
I have a Post-Graduate Diploma in Psychodynamic Therapeutic Counselling from the University of Brighton and have been working with clients for more than 10 years, within a community counselling agency, a university counselling service and in my private practice.
I am a Registered and Accredited Member of the BACP and work within the BACP Ethical Framework for the Counselling Professions. This includes the requirement that I attend regular supervision to discuss my client work with an experienced colleague, and that I undertake ongoing CPD.
Member organisations
Being registered/accredited with a professional body means an individual must have achieved a substantial level of training and experience approved by their member organisation.
BACP is one of the UK’s leading professional bodies for counselling and psychotherapy with around 60,000 members. The Association has several different categories of membership, including Student Member, Individual Member, Registered Member MBACP, Registered Accredited Member MBACP (Accred) and Senior Registered Accredited Member MBACP (Snr Acccred).
Registered and accredited members are listed on the BACP Register, which shows that they have demonstrated BACP’s recommended standards for training, proficiency and ethical practice. The BACP Register was the first register of psychological therapists to be accredited by the Professional Standards Authority (PSA).
Accredited and senior accredited membership are voluntary categories for members who choose to undertake a rigorous application and assessment process to demonstrate additional standards around practice, training and supervision.
Individual members will have completed an appropriate counselling or psychotherapy course and started to practise, but they won’t appear on the BACP Register until they've demonstrated that they meet the standards for registration. Student members are still in the process of completing their training.
All members are bound by the BACP Ethical Framework and a Professional Conduct Procedure.
Accredited register membership
The Accredited Register Scheme was set up in 2013 by the Department of Health (DoH) as a way to recognise organisations that hold voluntary registers which meet certain standards. These standards are set by the Professional Standards Authority (PSA).
This therapist has indicated that they belong to an Accredited Register.
Areas of counselling I deal with
Other areas of counselling I deal with
All clients are different and the psychodynamic approach may not be right for everyone. However I have worked successfully with clients with a wide range of presenting problems, including: depression and anxiety; loss and bereavement; relationship and sexual difficulties; issues around identity (including work with LGBTQ+ clients); trauma, including childhood and developmental trauma; issues around pregnancy and parenting, including post-natal depression; issues around disordered eating. This list is not exhaustive and I aim to work with each client as an individual. If you would like to find out more about how we might work together then please do not hesitate to get in touch.
Therapies offered
Fees
£50.00 per session
Concessions offered for
Additional information
My standard fee is £50 per session, for both in person and online counselling. Cancellations of less than 24 hours notice must still be paid for. I have a small number of reduced-fee spaces for clients on low incomes (including students), and this is something that we can discuss in our initial session.
When I work
I offer in person sessions during the day on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and on Thursday evenings. I can also offer online sessions at other times.
Further information
Online counselling
Like many counsellors, I started working online during the first Covid lockdown in 2020, and I continue to offer online counselling to clients who are unable to attend face to face sessions in Southampton. Online sessions take place over Zoom and I will email you the session link in advance.
In many ways, online counselling works in the same way as face to face counselling – we will meet and talk together for 50 minutes at the same time each week. But there are also some important differences, especially in terms of you needing to make sure that you are in a comfortable, safe and private space in which to have the session. We will talk through some of these issues in our initial session so that you can be sure that online counselling is the right choice for you.
If you are interested in online counselling then contact me to arrange an initial session. Please note that I am only able to work online with clients resident in the UK.
